Pfft—
The Mycelium Cocoon hanging upside down from the dome split open, and a Puji fell out, landing on the ground and bouncing twice.
"Why did it get moved into midair?" Cave Four muttered as it climbed up, then immediately started shouting through the Mycelium Network, "Fungal Lord, Fungal Lord!"
"Oh, Cave Four, you're alive."
"Fungal Lord, how was it? Wasn't it cool? My super, massive, Self-Destruct!" Cave Four even propped up its tentacles as it spoke, striking the dashing pose it had used during the Self-Destruct. "Once I blew up, I couldn't feel anything anymore, but it must've looked really cool, right?"
"It was very cool. Artistic, even," Linden admitted objectively.
"Hmph-hmph!" Praised, Cave Four's body stretched and shrank, the whole mushroom jiggling back and forth like an elastic gummy. It was just short of hopping in place.
After preening for a while, Cave Four went on, "Fungal Lord, where's the Recording Crystal? I want to see it!"
"There isn't one."
Those three simple words froze Cave Four in place. Its mushroom cap trembled and faded to gray-white, as if it had been hit by Petrification Ray.
It asked shakily, "Wh—why? Did—did the Fungal Lord forget?"
"I didn't forget. I was recording, but—" As Linden spoke, he projected an image into Cave Four's consciousness.
At the center of the image was a gigantic semicircular crater.
The half without a crater had been preserved because the Spatial Barrier had shifted away the energy from the Self-Destruct at the time, but even so, the entire layer of ground had been peeled up, exposing gray-white Bedrock covered in cracks.
As for the crater side, forget things like tree remains—even the distant ridge had been shaved down by more than half.
It was not only the terrain. The Self-Destruct had also caused lasting